Archives for July 2020

L3Harris Launches USAF Constellation Demo Smallsat

July 6, 2020 by editorial

L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) launched the latest in a demonstration series of end-to-end smallsats as part of a U.S. Air Force constellation the company is responsible for developing.

As the prime contractor for the firm fixed-price development space mission, L3Harris is designing, developing, building, testing and deploying the satellites. The company will task, command and control the satellite system, as well as perform on-board processing of data to deliver imagery products directly to warfighters on tactical timelines.

The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles Secondary Payload Adapter, or ESPA-class, satellite system will use L3Harris’ fully reprogrammable payload platform — allowing operators to reconfigure smallsat payloads on orbit to changing missions.

The company’s High Compaction Ratio unfurlable X-band reflector is also on board to enable high-speed data communication.

“L3Harris has developed and supported various aspects of satellite missions over the last several decades as a component supplier or hosted payload,” said Ed Zoiss, President, Space and Airborne Systems, L3Harris. “In collaboration with the U.S. Air Force, we pulled the pieces together to successfully plan, develop and execute an affordable, high-performance space mission, which is part of a responsive constellation contract.”

Blue Canyon Gleans DARPA Smallsat Contract

July 6, 2020 by editorial

As many as 20 smallsat buses are now contracted to Blue Canyon Technologies by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The smallsats — based on the company’s X-SAT smallsat — will be an integral part of a proposed DARPA LEO network, with SA Photonics also selected by the agency to participate in this project.

A total of $ 14.1 million is the base value of the Blue Canyon contract and will require the company to engage in system design development as well as the implementation of all of the tech that will be necessary to ensure the spacecraft are fully compatible with the autonomous C&C platform called “Pit Boss.”

Pit Boss will acquire the smallsats’ data and, while the smallsats are on-orbit, process that information and then forward to users on Earth… all without human input. The DARPA Blackjack constellation will be built using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) packaged solutions that are designed for military uses.

Deployment of these smallsats is expected to occur by 2022.

*Artistic rendition of the DARPA Blackjack smallsat constellation. Image is courtesy of DARPA.*

In-Space to Continue their Faraday Satellite Program Despite Devastating Loss

July 6, 2020 by editorial

Despite the devasting news of losing their maiden satellite, Faraday-1, In-Space Missions has vowed to continue its Faraday satellite program

Although the nanosat was launched on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket yesterday evening (July 4th) from New Zealand, the launch vehicle failed in its late ascent, losing Faraday-1 and its seven payloads on-board, as well as several other satellites launching with Electron.

“The In-Space team sat poised yesterday evening watching the launch of Faraday-1, which was a culmination of two years of hard work. When we heard that the launch vehicle failed four minutes into the flight, we were all absolutely gutted,” said Doug Liddle, CEO and Founder of In-Space Missions, which is based in Bordon, Hampshire.

Faraday-1 had been carrying payloads from several customers including Airbus Defence and Space, Kleos Space, Lacuna Space, the Space Environment Research Centre in Canberra, Canadensys Aerospace and Aeternum.

“Many of our team have been involved in previous space missions, so we’re fully aware of the fragile nature of launches. However, this knowledge and experience doesn’t make this failed mission any easier to accept. We are also extremely disappointed for the seven customers on-board our satellite but will work hard with them all to ensure their planned missions successfully reach orbit as soon as possible,” added Doug.

Rocket Lab had previously launched 12 successful missions. Following launch, Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, tweeted, “We are deeply sorry to our customers Spaceflight Inc., Canon Electronics Inc., Planet, and In-Space Missions for the loss of their payloads. We know many people poured their hearts and souls into those spacecraft. Today’s anomaly is a reminder that space launch can be unforgiving, but we will identify the issue, rectify it, and be safely back on the pad as soon as possible.”

Looking to the future, Doug said, “In-Space will not be deterred by this unfortunate accident. A lot of amazing work has been achieved to date, and we are already putting our experiences on Faraday-1 to work on our Faraday-2nd generation ESA program as well as on a number of other satellites we have under contract. We were planning a Faraday-1b for launch in the middle of 2021 and we will now look to bring this forward. We will continue to work closely with our payload customers and plan to be on the launchpad again in the very near future.”

Rocket Lab Launch Mishap

July 5, 2020 by editorial

Following a successful lift-off, first stage burn, and stage separation, Rocket Lab experienced an anomaly during the company’s 13th Electron mission ‘Pics Or It Didn’t Happen.’ The vehicle has been lost due to this mishap.

The issue occurred approximately four minutes into the flight on July 4, 2020, and resulted in the safe loss of the vehicle. As a result, the payloads onboard Electron were not deployed to orbit. Electron remained within the predicted launch corridors and caused no harm to personnel or the launch site. Rocket Lab is working closely with the FAA to investigate the anomaly and identify its root cause to correct the issue to move forward.

This anomaly occurred after 11 consecutive successful orbital launches of the Electron launch vehicle. Rocket Lab currently has more than eight Electron vehicles in production, ready for a rapid return to flight as soon as investigations are complete and any required corrective actions are in place.

“We are deeply sorry to our customers Spaceflight Inc., Canon Electronics Inc., Planet, and In-Space Missions for the loss of their payloads. We know many people poured their hearts and souls into those spacecraft. Today’s anomaly is a reminder that space launch can be unforgiving, but we will identify the issue, rectify it, and be safely back on the pad as soon as possible,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO. “The launch team operated with professionalism and expertise to implement systems and procedures that ensured the anomaly was managed safely. I’m proud of the way they have responded to a tough day. We’re working together as a team to comb through the data, learn from today, and prepare for our next mission.”

*Photo of the liftoff of the Rocket Lab’s **Pics Or It Didn’t Happen** mission.*

Horizon Technologies’ Additional £100,000 Innovate UK Grant for AMBER™ CubeSat-based Intelligence Data Service

July 2, 2020 by editorial

Horizon Technologies has received an additional £100,000 Grant to help fund its AMBER CubeSat-based Intelligence Data Service. Horizon Technologies CEO John Beckner stated, “We are thrilled and grateful to receive this additional Innovate UK Grant as it gives us a further stamp of approval from the UK Government for our AMBER program.”

“As European business travel is coming back, the Horizon Technologies team is back again conducting face-to-face meetings with commercial and government end-users. As AMBER is a Public/Private partnership with the UK Government, we are most grateful for the continuing support from the UK Government; DIT and DSO in particular.” Beckner noted, “Despite the worldwide disruptions due to COVID-19, our legacy FlyingFish business is increasing, and our list of AMBER end-users continues to grow—2020 will be our most successful year yet.”

“The Innovate UK Grant is a Continuance Grant which will be put to good use in making sure our AMBER Processing Centre (APC) will be up and running in the near future.” Beckner notes, “The APC needs to be fully tested and operational in order be able to provide terrestrial AMBER data for integration testing for our AMBER end-users in addressing their Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) requirements. Using Horizon Technologies’ unique IP, the APC processes AIS, Sat Phone, Maritime Radar, and GNSS Spoofer signals sent to it from the AMBER payload.”

Telesat Also Wants OneWeb’s Satellites??

July 1, 2020 by editorial

Ottawa-based Telesat has reportedly entered a bid for OneWeb’s satellite assets. But it isn’t alone.

There will be an auction process on July 2nd in New York. The UK is widely reported to have committed to a $500 million (£405 million) participation for a 20 percent stake in OneWeb. The UK bid is said to be backed by India’s Bharti Telecom and its Bharti Airtel division, owned by billionaire Sunil Mittal. In fact, it is also reported that Telesat had hoped to partner with UK interests on a bid.

Bharti was already a backer and investor in OneWeb (now in bankruptcy protection) alongside other key players such as chip-maker Qualcomm and Europe’s Airbus. OneWeb’s major backer was Japanese media conglomerate SoftBank.

Bharti is a huge Indian company and the nation’s second-biggest wireless operator. Its market value is about $41 billion, and as part of its investment in OneWeb it had the distribution rights to its broadband services and as well as India covering Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa.

Airbus has a very special interest in the bankruptcy and its outcome. First up, it is a 50/50 shareholder with OneWeb in the Florida factory turning out OneWeb’s satellites.

OneWeb has 68 working satellites in orbit out of a total initial plan of at least 648 with each operating at 1200 kms altitude. The OneWeb/Airbus joint venture, prior to the bankruptcy, was making two satellites a day from its facility in Florida.

However, there are also rumors that Telesat and Airbus, and possibly including Thales Alenia Spac,e are also interested in OneWeb’s assets. With Europe’s two important satellite-building companies interested, and a possibility that the European Commission might back a French bid – with Telesat – and which includes satellite operator Eutelsat. Eutelsat is alone among the ‘big four’ satellite operators in NOT having a LEO component.

Canada’s Telesat is also a very keen fan of LEO satellites. Telesat is the fourth-largest geostationary satellite operator and supplies DTH TV signals of some 200 channels for the likes of Bell TV and Shaw Direct. It operates the Anik, Nimiq and Telstar fleets of satellites.

It has recently tested its own debut LEO satellites in an exercise with Telefonica. The tests, described by the pair as “rigorous” were designed to explore the performance and feasibility of leveraging LEO satellites for high-end services. Testing demonstrated that Telesat LEO could be a viable option for wireless backhaul and presents a substantial improvement in performance over geostationary orbit (GEO) links.

Those tests included the delivery of HD video streaming and video conferencing as well as VPN connections. Telesat was planning to launch just 117 LEO satellites into orbit. That plan was expanded to 298 craft and in May, Telesat announced that it would like FCC permission to dramatically extend that number to an overall 1671 satellites.

Telesat’s bid – if accepted – could be the ‘fast-track’ to launching its own LEO fleet. For example, it could trim the OneWeb planned fleet to suit the Canadian company’s own purposes.

Article posted by journalist Chris Forrester at the
Advanced Television infosite.
Chris is also a Senior Contributor for Satnews Publishers.

Global Dark Ship Detection With HawkEye 360’s New Radar Signals Capabilities

July 1, 2020 by editorial

HawkEye 360 Inc. has announced that the company’s flagship RFGeo product can now map an expanded catalog of marine navigation radar signals to further improve global maritime situational awareness.

With this update, HawkEye 360 introduces the first S-band radar signal and quadruples the number of X-band radar signals in the company’s library. HawkEye 360 can now cover the most used frequencies for X-band magnetron-based radar systems, providing a more comprehensive view of maritime activity.

Vessels continuously operate marine radars to safely navigate from point to point and avoid nearby obstacles, making them an excellent means to track vessels that have otherwise ceased AIS transmissions and gone dark. Commercial vessels 300 gross tonnage or larger are required to be equipped with X-band radars (9 GHz).

The largest vessels also carry S-band radars (3 GHz) to penetrate deeper through rain or fog. Each new signal improves Hawkeye 360’s ability to develop vessel profiles. This data helps clients identify dark vessels that might be involved in illicit activities, such as smuggling or illegal fishing.

HawkEye 360’s RFGeo identifies and geolocates RF signals collected by HawkEye 360’s proprietary satellite constellation. RFGeo is the first commercially available product offering global spectrum awareness across a broad range of radio signals.

In addition to the newly announced signals, RFGeo can independently geolocate marine VHF marine radios, UHF push-to-talk radios, L-band mobile satellite devices, EPIRB marine emergency distress beacons, and vessel Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). HawkEye 360 is continually adding signals to the catalog to broaden the reach of RF identification across land, sea, and air domains.

Executive Comments

“We’re addressing critical gaps in Maritime Domain Awareness by revealing an entirely new data layer for vessel monitoring,” said John Serafini, Chief Executive Officer, HawkEye 360. “We’re excited to introduce our first signal in the S-band frequencies. By expanding our signal catalog, we’re not just collecting new and diverse RF data sets, we’re providing actionable intelligence to support the increasing number and scale of our customers’ missions.”

“Our customers need to maintain accurate and consistent visibility of vessels,” said Alex Fox, EVP for Business Development, Sales and Marketing, HawkEye 360. “Vessels are continuing to evade AIS detection to conduct illicit activities, making it difficult for organizations to identify and monitor their behaviors. We’re able to provide unique data sets that enable our customers to keep their finger on the pulse of vessel activity.”

Recent HawkEye 360 news…

HawkEye 360’s Keen Eye Adds More Defense Industry Expertise to their
Board of Directors

HawkEye 360 Reveals Iranian Tankers Evading Sanctions